Oakland Pays Wounded Occupy Protestor $4.5 Million for Injuries

Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran who suffered a fractured skull and related injuries when he was hit with a projectile fired by police on the front line of the Occupy Oakland protest in October 2011, has reached a $4.5 million settlement with the city. The San Francisco Chroniclereports that Olsen’s settlement is one of a series of settlement the city is reaching with alleged or proven victims of the excessive use of force by Oakland police.

Footage of Olsen being injured was posted widely at the time, and the left celebrated him as a martyr, though conservatives noted his background was far more problematic than Occupy’s supporters were willing to admit.

Occupy Oakland was, by far, the most militant, lawless and violent of all the demonstrations in the Occupy Wall Street movement, and police often found themselves in tense confrontations with mobs of protestors.